Rationalization is the act of finding reasons to believe what one has already decided they want to believe. It is a decidedly terrible way to arrive at true beliefs.

“Rationalization.” What a curious term. I would call it a wrong word. You cannot “rationalize” what is not already rational. It is as if “lying” were called “truthization.” – Rationalization

Rationality starts from evidence, and then crunches forward through belief updates, in order to output a probable conclusion. "Rationalization" starts from a conclusion, and then works backward to arrive at arguments apparently favoring that conclusion. Rationalization argues for a side already selected; rationality tries to choose between sides....

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